Archives

All posts for the day January 23rd, 2018

Physician David Casarett was tired of hearing hype and half-truths around medical marijuana, so he put on his skeptic’s hat and investigated on his own. He comes back with a fascinating report on what we know and what we don’t — and what mainstream medicine could learn from the modern medical marijuana dispensary.

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

Leg irons were used as a device to restrain the enslaved. This is a photo of a British merchant on the HMS Sphinx removing these restraints in the early 19th century. Britain had abolished slavery. British traders transported an estimated 3.4 million Africans to North America as slaves during the 245 years the transatlantic slave trade was active.

There aren’t many known photographs of slave ships. This is one of them, taken by Marc Ferrez in 1882.

North Korea can counter any nuclear threat, its representative told a conference on disarmament in Geneva. He warned the US against bringing its strategic assets to and around the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea said it had made “absolutely the right choice” by boosting its nuclear capabilities.

Pyongyang’s representative has urged the US to completely stop joint exercises with South Korea and “all nuclear war drills” in the region and has spoken out against US’s military presence on the Korean Peninsula “under the pretext of the security of the Olympic Games.“

“This is a dangerous act of throwing a wet blanket over the current positive atmosphere of inter-Korean relations,” the representative said.

The US disarmament ambassador at the talks advocated for North Korea’s denuclearization and further pressure on Pyongyang, saying “The US will not recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapon state.”

Last week, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed on the North Korean team’s participation in the Olympic Games, where the two neighbors will also have a joint hockey team. The move was discussed during the first bilateral talks in two years, widely seen as a positive sign amid heightened tensions in the region.

Tough-talking Philippines leader Rodrigo Duterte has ordered law enforcement to shoot him if he ever pursues dictatorship ambitions and stays in power longer than the constitution allows.

“If I overstay and wanted to become a dictator, shoot me, I am not joking,” the president told the troops on Monday. “If I extend my term even by just one day, I am now asking the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippines National Police not to allow me or anybody else to mess with the constitution,” Duterte warned.

It is a “solemn duty” of the military and police to defend the constitution, which only stipulates a single six-year presidential term.

“It is your job to protect the constitution and to protect the people,” Duterte told the troops. The president said soldiers are even allowed to use all of their ammunition to take him down if necessary, reported Rappler.

With his tenure due to expire in 2022, Duterte previously dispelled speculation that he was seeking to amend the constitution in order to secure a longer presidency. “Do not be afraid of dictatorship. I am not aiming for it. I do not ask [for] it and I do not like it,” Duterte said at the time, after calling on the lawmakers to cut the powers of government officials.

To prove he would have no qualms about giving up office, Duterte has previously promised he would resign on various conditions, including if his children were to become involved in corruption, or if human rights organizations found evidence of state-sanctioned killings.

The Philippines leader is known for his straightforward remarks, even resorting to foul language and personal insults, whether it’s foreign leaders or criminals he addresses. Last year, Duterte vowed to personally kill the offenders after scaling down his war on drugs, calling off police forces to leave the fight on ‘narcotraffic’ to the drug enforcement agency. Duterte’s crackdown on crime claimed more than 7,000 lives of suspected drug dealers and users, drawing widespread condemnation from human rights groups for extrajudicial violence.The president also pledged to give orders to kill his son, Paolo Duterte, if he were found guilty of involvement with an international drug cartel.

In his first public appearance in Europe speaking at the at DLD conference in Munich, Uber’s new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who “comes across very well and is being very open and honest” in a welcome change to the company’s C-Suite, says he is still working on cleaning up its culture, but growth has not been slowed by the ongoing efforts.

Dara said that he thinks disruption always leads to breaking of norms, but that Uber ‘took it too far’ in past, and admits that profitability is still biggest concern… apart from culture, of course.

Khosrowshahi said the way Uber entered into Germany was “wrong”, and explains that he plans to expand to more German cities in 2018, but will do so slowly.

The punchline, however, was the following: he now sees manufacturers producing flying cars for U.S. within 10 years even as he concedes that there is a lot left to do before fully autonomous cars are ubiquitous.

Still, not even the new CEO could stop himself from making a political comment at the conference, wearing a “we are all dreamers” t-shirt at #DLD18. “US is a nation of immigrants, we have to let #dreamers continue their lives”

“Ireland remains one of the most pro-Palestinian countries in the EU. Israeli officials have been expelled from the country and its policies are regularly denounced by Irish politicians.”

People come together to support Palestine as they walk to the Israeli embassy in Dublin, Ireland [Tommy Morrin/Facebook]

Israel’s frosty relations with Ireland may get worse after news that it was considering closing its embassy in Dublin.

Sources in Israel reported that the Dublin embassy is the only western European mission on a list of seven embassies and consulates earmarked for closure by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as part of a cost-cutting plan.

The ministry is currently undergoing negotiations to decide on the embassies that will be closed. A committee is due to submit recommendations by the end of the month.

It is widely suspected that the Netanyahu government is reassessing its priorities on the world stage. Africa is recognised as the continent with most potential for diplomatic inroads. Disappointment following Israel’s defeat at the UN also encouraged the right-wing Knesset to punish states that voted against Trump’s unilateral and illegal declaration to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The Israeli government moved to close down diplomatic missions in seven countries at the beginning of the year. TheJerusalem Post reported that under the new plan, the embassies will be closed over the next three years, with three closed the first year, and two during each of the next two years after that.